Comment on Modern Day

  1. Meneldur on Chapter 8 Thu 24 Mar 2016 06:04PM UTC

    So, onward to the next four chapters. I'm actually kind of drunk, but if you can't be drunk on Purim, when can you be drunk? Anyways...

    I love the image of Toph containing, more like absorbing, Azula's tremors. It's beautiful imagery, so heartfelt, so appropriate for them both. It was perhaps a microcosm of their relationship - Toph holding in her all the things Azula can't contain, has to get out, but that don't actually leave her. It's just so much Azula is doing at the moment - pouring out her weakness, her inner turmoil, wanting to give up her fire, giving up something Toph loves... but Toph is there. And Toph knows to contain it, to absorb it without changing (perhaps Toph knows to absorb anything of Azula, as long as Azula remains hers to absorb). And maybe that is what they both need.

    I love Azula designing her favorite room in a way that enforces her to keep control at all times. I also love the idea that that room is a library of sorts - ever since Measure Each Step To Eternity, I love the idea of Azula also being a total intellectual nerd, having read tons of books, remembering them all, and really liking books in general.

    Huh, Twilight. That... is very interesting. I read them. I don't like them, but they're not utterly horrible. They're okay, I guess. They had potential, perhaps that is the best thing that can be said of them. If you read Radiance, you can definitely see that. But I like that Toph knows Azula well enough to accept her dislike of the books, and that Azula actually restrains herself enough not to try and argue with Toph about it. I like that their relationship can be so honest, and yet that Azula will still put in such effort, because she loves to see Toph smile.

    "of the walls of the empty romo"

    Counting the people that need to die so that Lu Ten (?) gets the throne reminded me of Daphne's grandmother in Nation - I can totally see Azula in that role.

    Iroh and Azula were just so raw. It was absolutely wonderful to see her laying in to him, to see him stripped of all defenses, afraid of a little girl, tormented by guilt and the heavy burden of feeling at fault for something he couldn't change. I was interested by the implication of Iroh thinking she was a terrible person and deserved Ozai for a father, and the implication that perhaps Iroh took Zuko away from Ozai, but left Azula there. And yet, there's nothing he can do. He's too late. And maybe that torments him more than anything - that he's too late. Any help he offers now is not only unwanted, but (to a certain extent) unneeded.

    But he gets a second chance. Again, it's because he failed her, because he didn't realize how bad it was, he didn't realize what she needed - but he knows better this time. He knows what she needs. He knows her pride, and her ability. He knows she needs someone like him - someone who cares, but she can pretend (or perhaps, not pretend) not to care about that. I like the symmetry of it - the first time, he couldn't help her because he didn't care enough. The second time (in the cafe, with her addiction) he couldn't help, because he cared too much - and cared too much about caring too much, knowing Azula's reaction to it. I think that only the third time, he gets it right - allowing himself to be himself, ignoring the guilt and pain and history that comes with being himself and knowing Azula, just helping Azula as she should be helped, not as he envisions it should be.

    And that's really nice. I like to think that in a world where Azula kind of has no one except maybe Toph, she can respect and care for Iroh a bit, and know he has her back, but only if she has no other choice - and that he knows it as well. He probably made sure to introduce himself to Toph (knowing Azula wouldn't do it), and is the only member of Azula's family she actually knows. He also probably greatly approves, but makes sure not to mention it to Azula.

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    1. avulle on Chapter 8 Fri 25 Mar 2016 01:58AM UTC

      Picrew of a white woman with long brown hair

      (a question for the ages)

      I loved Twilight. I did not love Radiance as much because it was a) super gross and terrible and b) it ran counter to all of my carefully constructed headcanons about Twilight. I have yet to find much in the way of Twilight fanfic that I didn't dislike: people either like it for reasons I do not, or they hate it, and it shows. (I think Edward was a pretty reasonable guy, for example. By far one of the most engaging characters in the Twilight series.)

      (thanks)

      Lu Ten (probably). But Iroh saying "eldest" rather than "only child" implies he's got more than one. (For the record, he will not ascend to the throne. I am not killing off the entire British Royal family.)

      Originally, Azula was going to hate Iroh with the burning passion of a thousand suns, but then I re-read Measure Each Step to Infinity for the like, twelfth time, and this happened instead. So their relationship is strongly based off of that.

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      1. Meneldur on Chapter 8 Fri 25 Mar 2016 06:43AM UTC

        Yeah, Radiance was kind of highly disturbing, but I felt it showed what the potential was in Twilight - that is, if you wanted a dark and gritty story. Hmm... good Twilight fanfic - Princess Alexandria has a few stories I enjoyed, though I don't know if you'd like them. I felt 'Perceptions' by The EarthSong was basically what Twilight was all about in terms of getting the world and the romance right. And I absolutely loved Rosalie's Revenge, by Consultant By Day.
        Edward isn't too bad. I don't love him, but he's infinitely better than Jacob. I agree he's pretty reasonable. Personally I found Rosalie and Alice to be most engaging of the Cullen clan, but... also, to be frank, I felt that in Breaking Dawn, most of the new vampires were far more interesting (The Denalis, The Amazons, The Egyptians, The Romanians).

        Eh, I was just trying to say it doesn't have to be Lu Ten. I didn't think you'd kill them off, I was just reminded of that scene from Nation. Daphne actually thinks that her grandmother has a crazed glint in her eye when she talks about it, the kind that makes you think she'd actually do it - I can't see either Iroh or Lu Ten doing so, but I can easily imagine everyone attributing such a crazed glint to Azula.

        Oh, Measure Each Step to Infinity, up there with Embers as the perfect Avatar fanfiction, though of course, both have their own faults, minuscule though those may be. Yeah, that would do the trick.

        Latest chapter: I love the idea that Azula was a slob, and then went back to being the height of fashion and composure, and Toph immediately notices this (even though they're not even dating) and is kind of bothered, if only for a few moments. I assume this is the outfit Azula will remain with throughout, given it was mentioned earlier she only wears the one outfit? I wonder if she adds a touch of red or cyan to the outfit, though - like, a cyan bow/tie, or a red handkerchief tucked into the breast pocket of her jacket (assuming it's that sort of jacket). Is it something like this http://spyridona.deviantart.com/art/AtLA-Modern-Azula-154419422 ? Though I'd also love if it was something like these (though it probably isn't): http://41.media.tumblr.com/fcaa9c7414704f00b27bde99dd8594f1/tumblr_n54iv21W871rvbh2vo1_r1_1280.jpg

        Anyway, I really liked seeing Azula and Toph navigating the streets of London/Oxford/wherever, with Toph reacting to all the people around her, and how even before they start dating, there's an instinctive closeness between them, they've already fallen into this wonderful pattern of playing off each other, understanding how the other thinks and moves and reacts.

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        1. avulle on Chapter 8 Fri 25 Mar 2016 07:37AM UTC

          Picrew of a white woman with long brown hair

          I do not particularly want a nitty-gritty story, to be honest. One of the things I liked about Twilight was that even though the premise had such potential for terrible-ness, the story is actually very hopeful and upbeat. (I also just adored the mythos of the world, and I loved how just unabashedly superhuman and without weakness the vampires were.)

          I'll take a look at those. Glancing at Perceptions, I'm not sure I'll like that (it seems way grimmer than Twilight), but Rosalie's Revenge seems promising.

          Yeah, Princess Alexandria was my first exposure to Twilight fanfic, and her something something Wolf story probably remains my favorite Twilight fanfic that is not my own. (I also liked her other stuff, but she *hates* Edward... a lot, which is not super great.)

          In Breaking Dawn, I think I still preferred the Cullens, but the new one's were neat, too. The Romanians, in particular, were fun characters because they were just like... so whiny and pathetic and filled with hate? I dunno. I never liked the Denalis much.

          I liked Edward a lot in the books, but my fanfics/ideas focus around Alice or Rosalie because they've got the most meat on their bones. (Or rather, they've got the most un-explored meat on their bones. Stephenie Meyer already wrote Edward, and a whole pile of character development for him, and I like that and don't want to undo it.)

          MESTI is love. MESTI is life. (XD)

          Azula was only a slob for a very particular part of her life: from when Ozai attacked her to this chapter. Before she was always very put together, so here, she's re-taking this aspect of herself that she lost. And yep, this is Azula's one outfit. It might change a bit at the beginning, but I've always pictured Azula as vaguely obsessive-compulsive, so it might really be exactly this outfit, in septuplicate, for the next four years.

          I picture it closer to the former than the latter, although in black/white, and with the shirt all the way buttoned. (Azula here is definitely not into showing her cleavage.) Also, probably the jacket a little longer, and... basically, it's a traditional men's suit (without a tie, and without the neck button buttoned), but cut for a woman. Also, I picture Azula with less of the smirk she has in canon, with much more muted, neutral facial expressions.

          Azula in Earth & Fire doesn't wear red. (It's one of the differences, now that I think about it, between her and Sherlock-Azula, who does wear lots soft reds and oranges.) If she added extra touches, they would be in blue. That said, I've always pictured her without them. Her suit is very put together, very sharp, but not very visually interesting.

          :D (Some indeterminate place in Fire Nation-UK.) They've been friends and they've been on the same pro-bending team for close to a year at this point. They're very comfortable around each other. I've tried writing their friends->lovers transition several times, but I've never been satisfied with the result.

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          1. Meneldur on Chapter 8 Fri 25 Mar 2016 02:58PM UTC

            I can see that. It was a thing I liked about Twilight as well - it was a nice change of pace, having superpowered vampires, with relatively little issues, other than their own angst.

            I think, given the subject matter, Perceptions is actually less grim. It's a love story, whereas Rosalie's Revenge is, well, a revenge story, though it also does some wonderful character building, abd ends happily. Perceptions is more the dark mirror of Twilight - what if a non 'vegetarian' vampire falls in love with someone?

            Good point on Princess Alexandria, though her writing is great nonetheless. Yeah, the wolf story was great, though I preferred her Bella Swan insert - I felt it was more engaging and true to the world.

            The Romanians were great fun. It was just so amusing to read them complaining about no longer ruling the vampire world.

            Fully agreed on Edward, Alice and Rosalie. I tried my hand at it once, but...

            Yeah, I also picture Azula as a kind of perfectionist, always put together. It's hard to ever imagine her as a slob. But you wrote she has the same outfit for four years - what happens after four years?

            Well, obviously in this story Azula doesn't do much smirking, unless she's teasing Toph, and is a lot less flamboyant.

            Some transitions just happen naturally, I suppose, with no real defining moment, so it's harder to write. I can easily see that being the case for Toph and Azula.

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            1. avulle on Chapter 8 Sun 27 Mar 2016 07:00PM UTC

              Picrew of a white woman with long brown hair

              I also really liked her Bella Swan insert. Rosalie in that was really fun, but the Edward in that was predictably terrible.

              In four years, Azula has graduated college, and I have no idea what she's going to be doing after that. (She'll probably stick with the same single outfit, but you never know.)

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